


Show me how it used to be

by JuliaBaggins



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 15:19:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6759334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuliaBaggins/pseuds/JuliaBaggins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short Pepper/Tony scene that takes place after the events of Civil War.</p><p>There are major spoilers for the movie, so be warned if you haven't seen it yet!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Show me how it used to be

**Author's Note:**

> The storyline about Tony and Pepper was one of the things that broke my heart in Civil War, so I felt the need to write something to fix this, at least a little.

“Tony?”

Her voice sounded hesitant and Tony turned around on his chair, slowly. His body still protested against even the slightest movement and he remembered how one of the doctors had offered to sedate him. But no, he had no time for that at the moment – he had to make sure if Rhodey was okay first, report what had happened, such a mess to clean up, not to mention his thoughts that kept circling about the previous events… And now Pepper was standing there, right in the doorframe and her eyes were fixed on his face. He was not sure what the expression in them meant.

“Pepper.”

 _Pepper._ It was just a simple word, six letters, her name that he had spoken so many times before. And still, it was hard to say it. God, he had missed her, and seeing her standing right there in front of him now made him feel that even more.

She stepped forward, just a bit, but now she was standing in the room rather than in the doorframe. For the first time since she had gotten here, Pepper turned her eyes away from Tony’s face to look at Rhodey in the hospital bed.

“How is he?”

“He’ll survive it. Though he’ll probably…” 

Tony’s voice cracked. It was just too much, saying out loud how his best friend might never be able to walk again. And it could have been even worse, Rhodey could have died, all of them could have, and that thought scared him.

He had not noticed the single tear that was rolling down his cheek until Pepper, who had come to stand right in front of his chair, carefully wiped it away. Tony looked up, stood up, and then, suddenly, he was in her arms. Pepper pulled him close and he melted into her hug; smelling soft apples in her hair, making him think of home. Of a home he hoped to get back one day.

 

“Oh Tony”, she whispered into his ear, “What happened?”

He pulled away a bit and smiled at her – well, he tried to smile, even a little bit, but it came out like a grimace.

“Haven’t you seen the news?”

“Of course I did. And there was such a lot going on, the footage from Leipzig alone, and the whole stuff about Barnes, but I…”

“He killed my parents.”

Tony’s voice when he interrupted Pepper had been nothing but a whisper, barely audible, but she still heard him. Of course, she always did. Pepper’s eyes widened in shock while Tony closed his own. His voice when he continued to speak was very controlled, like he tried to keep all of the emotion out. Just stating facts.

“The car accident was provoked. He killed my father. And then my mom. He strangled her. With his _own bare hands_.”

Now there were tears in Pepper’s eyes too.

 

“He was standing right next to me when I saw the video of how he did it. Standing there so damn calm like nothing had happened. And I wanted to kill him. From a logical point of view, I might have known that it was not really him, that he had not chosen to do it. But when I looked at his hands, everything I could think about was how they closed around my mother’s throat. His eyes, looking at me so empty, where the last thing that my mom saw before she died. I saw how he did not even flinch when my father begged for her life. And it was all him. My dad helped Steve, back in the war, to rescue him once, did you knew that? He flew him there, nearly got shot down by the Germans, all for Barnes. And look what it got him.”

Tony smiled bitterly and Pepper rubbed gentle circles to his back, unsure if she should say something yet.

“And Rogers. Well. I didn’t want to end things like this with him, but he knew it. He _knew_ all this time that it was his old buddy who fucking _killed_ my parents and it didn’t come to his oh so righteous mind that he maybe _should have told me about it._ I really thought we would have been friends.”

The last part was spoken as a whisper and the honesty behind it broke Pepper’s heart.

“Do you think he’ll come back?”

“No. Him and Barnes are somewhere on their honeymoon while we have to clean up that whole mess. I don’t know if I’ll see him again, and I also don’t know if I’d want to. It was not like we parted on good terms. I mean, it’s a miracle itself that all of us got out of this alive. And when we were in Siberia, there was a moment when I thought he’d actually kill me. I was convinced he’d do it, that this would be it.”

A shocked gasp escaped Pepper’s lips and she opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when Tony continued to speak.

.

“And in that moment, when he raised his shield and I thought that would be the end… I thought of you. I saw you in that blue dress, all those years ago, the evening of our first dance, and Pepper, I’m so sorry. For everything. And I know that it was my idea to take a break, but I don’t think it’s helping, it’s rather killing me to be apart from you. So, do you think you could give us a second chance, maybe? Or, well technically it wouldn’t be exactly a _second_ chance, more like a…” 

Tony never got to finish his sentence as right in this moment, Pepper pressed her lips on his. It was a sweet kiss, a slow one, full of apologies and _“I missed you”_ and _“I was worried about you”_ , and Tony knew that even if someone he had thought to be a good friend had betrayed him, even if he had no clue how the future of the Avengers might look like, he still had Pepper. And he was unbelievably thankful for that, as she was the love of his life. The one thing he couldn’t lose. And at the moment, it felt like he wouldn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Nice comments are always very welcome! ♡


End file.
